Due to the rapid depletion of natural resources, the need to access alternative fuels remains a great priority. Methanol is an example of an alternative fuel. The methanol industry is driven in part by the rising demand for alternative fuel and cleaner energy. Methanol is also used in a number of chemical intermediates that are utilized to make numerous products throughout the global economy.
The chemical oxidation of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons to alternative fuels and useful chemical intermediates would be a process of great industrial value affecting global energy use and the worldwide economy. However, current oxidative transformations of hydrocarbons are inefficient or costly synthetic protocols. The oxidation of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons are problematic largely due to the high bond energy of the C—H bond which renders hydrocarbons unreactive to chemical transformations. For example, methane has a bond energy of 104 kcal/mol and ethane has a bond energy of 101 kcal/mol. The development of efficient and low cost methods using catalysts that easily oxidize unreactive hydrocarbons, such as methane and ethane, would provide a useful approach to overcome the current challenges for the production of alternative fuels and useful chemical intermediates.
Recent developments in methane oxidation have recognized the value of using catalysts that oxidize unreactive hydrocarbons. However, these transformations require heating to elevated temperatures at high pressure. Moreover, these transformations require the use of highly dangerous concentrated sulfuric acid. Some methods have demonstrated catalytic production of methanol from methane; however, poor catalytic turnover numbers render these transformations inefficient and hinder its industrial application.
A more desirable approach to the catalytic oxidation of unreactive hydrocarbons is to provide a method that is conducted at ambient temperature and pressure using accessible reagents such as water and oxygen. It is necessary for the catalyst to be readily accessible from low-cost precursors and demonstrate high turnover numbers for efficiency which would provide a viable method to mitigate the current challenges for the process of alternative fuels and useful chemical intermediates.
The present invention overcomes the problems of the past and provides a novel method for the catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons using peptide copper catalysts.